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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28394754">J(ack)une Gloom</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/fluffier432/pseuds/fluffier432'>fluffier432</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Last Kids on Earth (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Episode Related, Gen, Jack Angst, Jack Feels, Jack Has Issues, Orphan talk, book 2 episode 7 June Gloom, first work for this fandom but probably not the last, i rewatched the ep and was struck with inspiration for the first time since october, i wrote this in a little over an hour, kind of a bit of a character study ig, under 1000 words</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 03:14:35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>621</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28394754</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/fluffier432/pseuds/fluffier432</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Though he always told himself he had a family now, with Quint and June and Dirk, it wasn’t the same. Could never be the same. Teenagers, especially ones that were only a year older than him or less, didn’t have the capacity to fulfil the same needs a parent could.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>36</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>J(ack)une Gloom</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hello and welcome to me getting back into writing through a Netflix series about a book series I never read!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The drive back to the treehouse was silent. June’s collapsed house fell out of sight as Big Mama took the four hurting teens home.</p>
<p>Jack could see June gazing at the photo of her and her parents in the rearview mirror, a melancholy look on her face. Guilt weighed at his shoulders. He hadn’t meant to make it all about him and his lack of a biological family, but he let his anger overtake him. As excited as he’d been to be in June’s house for the first time, it quickly became upsetting to see all the little things that made the house a <em> home </em>. Pictures of the three of them on the wall. Car keys hung up by the door. June’s hockey equipment laid out in the living room.</p>
<p>Not that the houses he’d lived in never had stuff like that; the only difference was, it was never <em> his </em> stuff. He was never <em> in </em> those pictures on the wall.</p>
<p>Quint’s shout of “Look out! <em> Zombie! </em>” quickly snapped Jack out of his thoughts, and he swerved just in time to miss the zombie staggering across the road. Jack silently decided to focus on driving for now.</p>
<hr/>
<p>The pictures covering June’s sign didn’t change, no matter how long Jack looked at them. No extra people popped up, no expressions turned sour. Not even when it got almost too dark to see them could Jack sense any discrepancies. They remained frustratingly the same.</p>
<p>Jack wasn’t even sure what he was hoping would happen. Did he want the pictures to rip themselves up, be torn into little pieces by some mysterious force? For the people frozen in time to somehow move around, walking off the side of the paper and leave an empty frame? Or did he just wish he could hold a picture like June’s and Quint’s, him in the middle, being held by two someones that looked like him?</p>
<p><em> It’s not fair </em> , he thought to himself for the umpteenth time in his life. <em> What could I have done so wrong as a baby to deserve a life without a family? </em></p>
<p>Though he always told himself <em> I have a family now, with Quint and June and Dirk </em> , it wasn’t the same. Could never be the same. Teenagers, especially ones that were only a year older than him or less, didn’t have the capacity to fulfil the same needs a parent could. Dirk was taller, stronger, and older than him. But he didn’t give Jack piggy-back rides, or spin him around until his feet lifted off the ground, and Jack didn’t want him to. It would be weird. Because Dirk wasn’t his dad. Quint sometimes chastised him for leaving food wrappers on the floor, and would hold him close if Jack asked, and Jack joked about him being his mom, but of course it never <em> really </em> felt like it. Quint wasn’t even older than him, <em> and </em>he was a guy.</p>
<p>(June was completely off the table for either role, for obvious reasons.)</p>
<p>They were more of a family than Jack ever had, and it still wasn’t enough. He felt ungrateful at times, especially now, eyes bouncing between the old, three-person pictures and the recent one of all four of them together, smiling. Other times he reminded himself that he’s missed out on over a decade of family, and why can the other kids have parents to love them and not him? No matter which way he thought, it always felt like it wasn’t fair. It always felt like it wasn’t enough.</p>
<p>Jack glared at the pictures in June’s sign until it got dark and he physically couldn’t anymore. And then he glared at them a little longer, for good measure.</p>
<p>They still didn’t change.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>If y'all have jack angst/whump or even just tlkoe requests, say please and thank you and I might just write it</p></blockquote></div></div>
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